German patent publication DE 31 11 871 A1 describes an electric shaving apparatus that includes at its top a shorthair cutter unit and on its front a longhair cutter unit. The longhair cutter unit is comprised of an operating switch and a coupled longhair cutter that has at its free end a comb-type lower blade and upper blade which in operation are in sliding relation to each other, thereby shearing off hairs that have entered the combs. In the position of rest, the longhair cutter unit is embedded in a recess formed on the front face of the housing of the shaving apparatus so that the outer contour of the longhair cutter forms a nearly stepless plane with the outside of the housing. To move the longhair cutter unit into its operating position, it is necessary to slide the operating switch upward, whereby the outside of the lower blade slides along a ramp in the housing of the shaving apparatus, swinging obliquely upwardly out of the housing together with the upper blade. As this occurs, a flap closing the longhair cutter exposes the comb-like end to enable it to be moved into contact with an operator's skin surface.
Similarly, Japanese reference JP 58-32767(2) describes an electrically operated shaving apparatus in which a shorthair cutter unit is provided on the upwardly pointing surface and a longhair cutter unit on the front side. Mounted behind a cover plate is a transversely grooved operating switch as well as a barrel-type longhair cutter. On being turned, the longhair cutter is accessible from outside through a square-shaped window. Otherwise, it is turned into the interior of the housing and concealed. Turning of the longhair cutter is effected by an actuator coupled next to the axis of rotation and connected to the operating switch.
German document DE 195 21 299 C1 also describes an electrically operated shaving apparatus that has at its top a shorthair cutter unit and on its front a longhair cutter unit. The longhair cutter unit is activated by an operating switch provided in a recess on the front side. An actuator connected to the operating switch is displaced from bottom to top and in reverse direction in the housing, so that due to the eccentric mounting of the actuator on the longhair cutter the latter is swung about its pivot axis forwardly out of the housing and back into the housing. Detent elements are provided in order for the actuator to lend the longhair cutter unit a stable position in the latter's extended position so that the longhair cutter withstands the shaving forces acting on it during shaving, without folding shut or wobbling. Although in the retracted condition the comb-type cutting plane of the longhair cutter is embedded in the housing recess of the shaver, it is nevertheless visible from outside, and the comb-type sharp edges of the longhair cutter are at least partially exposed.